August 2015
One for the ladies’ sewing circle? Richard Hoodless reports on how, in July, Simon made a bell shaped container for a sewing tape measure. He also turned a candlestick using an off-centre technique (pages 2 and 3)
To start off, Simon roughed down two small squares (45mm square by 45mm long) of muhuhu (www.wood- database.com/lumber-identification/muhuhu/) for the bell and then cut spigots on the ends.
The one for the main part of the bell was mounted in a chuck, the end trimmed and drilled with a 35mm Forstner bit followed by a 10mm bit to make a hole for the handle. The inside of the larger hole was tidied up so that it was running true.
For chasing a thread on the inside, Simon put a small chamfer on the inside edge and cut a groove for the chaser to run into. The speed of the lathe was adjusted to 300rpm, the tool rest was put across the lathe about a finger’s thickness from the wood and adjusted so that when the chaser was pointing down slightly (10 to 15 degrees) it cut on centre height.